Description

Origin

In the main series, not much is known about where the Rabbids had originally come from. Rabbids Go Home suggests that they do not even know themselves. However, at an early point in the Game Boy Advance version of Rayman Raving Rabbids, Ly the Fairy explains that the Rabbids were once peaceful creatures in Rayman's world that had gradually been bullied by other creatures, therefore going bad and taking their pain out on the entire world. The back cover of the main game also suggests that the Rabbids used to be peaceful but had turned bad, though the game doesn't explain how. This explanation of the Rabbids' origin was also used in official Ubisoft press releases regarding the original Rayman Raving Rabbids platformer, before that game was scrapped. Michel Ancel stated in an interview that the Rabbids had been “preparing this assault since the very first Rayman game”.

Appearance

The early look of the Rabbids.

Usually, Rabbids resemble albino rabbits in the sense that they have white fur and hairless bellies, mouths and the insides of their ears, though a few others can come in different colours such as grey, brown and even blue, yellow, red and green. Either way, they all for the most part have dark blue eyes which turn red when they turn mad (a few exceptions include a few having orange eyes in the PC version of Rayman Raving Rabbids, and one whose eyes turn bright green upon contact with an Xbox 360 Kinect sensor), and they also have two giant buckteeth. They do have nostrils, though they are not visible. Most of them are nearly as tall as Rayman is, their long ears included, though some others can be bigger or smaller; another few can look completely different from the others altogether, such as Serguei. They also have very short, stubby legs, and have no fingers on their paws, though they do have thumbs.

While most Rabbids tend to go naked, some like to dress up in costumes to tell themselves apart, such as Superbunnies and the Sam Fisher (from Splinter Cell) Rabbids. Notably in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, costumes, mostly based on geographical stereotypes (which lead to the toy collection "Rabbids Invade the World") and film characters, can be unlocked and worn when playing the game as them. In Raving Rabbids: Travel in Time, they wear costumes based on historic clothing.

Plush of Rabbids at E3.

Rabbid eyes turn green upon contact with a Kinect acessory.

Behaviour

Most of the time, the Rabbids are portrayed as moronic and easily amused. While they often see Rayman as their enemy, they tend to attack each other as well. They are also very gullible and often get tricked into getting abused (for example, in Bunnies Like Surprises), though often they try to trick Rayman themselves, as well as abuse other animals, namely pigs, sheep, cows and baby Globoxes - they also abuse humans in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 and Rabbids Go Home. They also don't understand how many of the objects they encounter work and often behave very immaturely (for example, burping, throwing things at others, and babbling loudly when asked to keep quiet). One of the Rabbids' favourite passtimes is dancing, and many can barely resist the sound of music - namely in Rayman Raving Rabbids, turning on a radio in the Bunny Hunts will distract some of them to Rayman's advantage.

They also share some traits of real rabbits, such as eating carrots and burrowing.

Speech

Typically, the Rabbids do not speak anything decipherable at all, and mostly communicate by screaming at the top of their voices. However, a few may have learned to "sing" in English, as throughout the games (Rabbids Go Home, Raving Rabbids: Travel in Time and other later games may be an exception), they dance to songs that have been vocally pitched to sound as if they sung them. The novelty single Making Fun (Of Everyday Life) also suggests this.

Diet

While Rabbids tend to enjoy carrots, a stereotypical trait among fictional rabbits, they are also known to practically eat anything, including things that are not food, such as sardine cans. Carrot juice however seems to have a sedating effect on them, as the minigame Bunnies Are Addicted To Carrot Juice seems to suggest.

In Rayman Raving Rabbids, the Rabbids suddenly start capturing the baby Globoxes that accompany Rayman during a picnic one day, and then ambush him and take him away to their Colosseum, where they force him to perform several daily trials for their entertainment. At the end of each successful day, they reward Rayman with a plunger, which he uses to help himself escape. As the game ends, Rayman climbs out of the cell and escapes from the Rabbids. When he walks toward the old picnic mat, he remembers the baby Globoxes. He tries to go through the holes the babies were sucked into, but gets stuck.

In Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, the Rabbids now have a new target - Earth. They spend a lot of time trying to study human traits, until their base - a shopping mall - is infiltrated by Rayman who chooses to behave the same way as them when they grow suspicious on his makeshift Rabbid costume. Oddly enough, they grow accustomed to his presence, despite not actually wearing the costume after the introduction scene. As the game does not have an ending video, it is not known what happened to Rayman. It is likely the Rabbids found out that Rayman was not one of their own, as several Rabbids take pictures of him when he is fighting the Rabbids in the shooting games.

In Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, the Rabbids continue to focus on harassing Rayman, forcing him to take refuge in a cabin. A bolt of lightning strikes them outside, and transfers them into the television set inside. Unsure about how to get out, they use it to constantly annoy not only Rayman but also some neighbouring animals. The Rabbids take over a TV station, and possibly others, and changes Rayman's, and others, television shows. Rayman tries various schemes to get them out. At the end of the game, as Rayman gets enraged of the Rabbids, throws his shoe at the television set. The group of Rabbids inside breaks out and chases Rayman out of his house. One Rabbid stays inside the house and makes it his own home.

Still on Earth, the Rabbids no longer wish to harass Rayman in Rabbids Go Home, and as the title suggests, they want to go home, but they don't know where they actually come from. They become attracted to the moon, and therefore make an attempt to reach it by collecting piles upon piles of human things with a shopping trolley. As the game ends, the humans track down the Rabbids and launch bombs onto their pile to the moon. With the Rabbids on the pile, they launch into space, heading towards the moon. As the humans cheer for their "supposed death", they are attacked by falling objects from the Rabbid's pile. The Rabbids successfully reach the moon, their pile of objects forming a ring around the moon.

In Rabbids Go Phone, a Rabbid appears to be in the player's mobile device. The player can interact with him, such as shaking the phone, squeezing him, and other ways. The game has music and sound effects from Rabbids Go Home, and similar graphics. This title does not have any bearings on the Rabbids series.

Rabbids appear as playable characters in the 2009 soccer game Academy of Champions. There is an entire team of them, as well as a single Rabbid that runs the item shop. This game does not have any bearings on the events in the Rabbids series.

Still on Earth, a Rabbid discovers a modified washing machine used to travel in time. He travels through time and goes to a history museum. With the time machine damaged from traveling through time, he and the other Rabbids, with nothing to do, use the damaged machine to travel in time and ruin important parts of human history. They access the events from paintings of that event. As they ruin time, they make time paradoxes. The actions successfully fix the time machine. At the end of the game, the main Rabbid travels into time to a warehouse full of giant robots. He finds Professor Barranco the III (descendant of Professor Barranco the II from Rayman Raving Rabbids 2), drilling Rabbids on how to use time machines to take control of human history. The main Rabbid pulls a plug on one of the time machines, causing all the machines and himself to disappear. This causes the Rabbid to travel in time the events in the game intro, which makes him come back to the history museum.

In Raving Rabbids: Alive and Kicking, the Rabbids are still invading Earth, this time destroying the city with their giant robots and causing flooding by infesting the drainage. The terrorized humans take the major role in this game, and with the sensorial capabilities of the Kinect, the player can take control of them. During the minigames, the humans must survive the Rabbids' mischiefs and exterminate them before they fully destroy the city.

A small group of Rabbids are hidding in a small headquarter underground. A Rabbid with glasses uses his computer to access to a Facebook application (displaying the icon of the player); however, the application doesn't seem to respond, until a "Error" notification appears. The Rabbids panic, as a gigantic tube appears from the surface and abducts them to a farm-themed social game (a clear parody of Farmville). The main objetive of the game is to take control of the farm with the help of currency (regular coins or toilet paper, the second one only can be obtained by paying for it), energy, Rabbids population, food cans, and other special items. As the player "Rabbidizes" the farm, he or she will have access to more levels with different themes, all of them being parodies of different Facebook games.

Still on Earth, the Rabbids find themselves taking over an amusement park. Two Rabbids are attempting to go on one of the rides, but are thrown out by an unseen person. One of the Rabbids contact the Rabbid spaceship through an iPhone-like device. He tries to call the Rabbid in the spaceship, but the Rabbid in the spaceship is too busy playing with the Wii U Gamepad. Unaware of the consequences, the Rabbid in the spaceship continues to play with the Gamepad, which was actually controlling the whole ship. The Rabbid turns the Gamepad upside down, which causes the the ship to land in the amusement park.

In the leaked pre-announcement trailer for Rayman Legends, the Rabbids featured as a concept toy that would use the NFC technology of the Wii U Gamepad to allow for a level involving them to be unlocked. This was similar to the concept used in the Skylanders video game series and the Amiibo, the level itself featured an Autumn forest with Rabbids coming out of the ground in a similar way as in the cancelled Rayman Raving Rabbids. However, this concept and the Rabbids themselves were scrapped, and did not feature in the final product at all.

Rabbids make their return to the Glade of Dreams in Rayman Adventures. They have the same appearance they had during the early Rayman Legends build. They appear during the game's events as enemies, with their first appearance being in the Easter Event. During the events, a single Rabbid is placed on each level, sometimes hidden, and sometimes on the regular path. Their behavior varies from just standing in place to wandering around until they see the player and charge at them with their rolling pins. Upon defeating them with a single hit, the player is rewarded with 2 of the events' collectibles, such as Easter Eggs, Beach Balls, Pumpkins, and Festive Decorations, which can be traded for the eventstickets, the events' Eggs that unlock exclusive seasonal Incrediballs, or the events' special costume, such as the Rabbiteen costume. The Rabbid can respawn in the same level only if the player is able to beat it, or if some time passes.

Reception

The Rabbids from the Raving Rabbids series became massively popular both through the teaser trailers and the game itself. IGN has stated that the Rabbids have "more personality and charisma than 10 of the most popular video game mascots combined",and that the bunnies have literally "upstaged Rayman himself". GameSpot has noted, "The Rabbids themselves are almost exclusively responsible for [selling the game's humor], as they are, without a doubt, hysterical. They're adorably designed, with their dumb stares, high-pitched shrieks, and a penchant for taking comedic bumps." There has been speculation by reviewers that the success of the Rabbid character will probably inspire the developers to create more games of the franchise, possibly even without Rayman. This was first hinted in the launch trailer of the first game, where Rayman, despite being the title character, only appears for a fraction of a second, only to be squashed flat by a couch taken over by the Rabbids, and became evident in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, in which case Rayman disguises himself as a Rabbid, causing the game to put more emphasis on them than on Rayman himself. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party was considered further evidence, as Rayman, who is no longer playable, only appears in the game's cutscenes. This was then proven to be true with the announcement of Rabbids Go Home, which does not feature Rayman at all.

Merchandise

Several Raving Rabbids products have been made and sold in the past few years, and include the following.

A set of 4 figurines, consisting of a normal Rabbid, a screaming one, one dressed as Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell, and one dressed as Altair from Assassin's Creed. Many more figurines had been produced, most of which are based on Rabbids Go Home.

Another set of figurines were available at least in the United Kingdom, where they were given as free gifts for every purchase of Rayman Raving Rabbids for the Wii. [1]

In many countries across Europe, a collection of 30 small Rabbids figurines are available, called "Rabbids Invade the World" and each Rabbid follows a certain geographical stereotype.

Also a collection of 30 Rabbids figurines called "Rabbids invade the sports" in which each Rabbid play a particular sport is available in many countries of Europe.

Another Rabbids collection of 9 figurines called "Rabbids invade football" is available in many countries in Europe. Each Rabbid represent a football player from an international team or a referee or an ultras.

Three Rabbids - two of which dress as a ninja and Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell - are playable characters in the Ubisoft title, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up!.

Some Rabbids make appearances as toys in the game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction and in the game I Am Alive

In Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, a cheat called "Shiver me Timbers" in which enemies are turned into Rabbids can be unlocked by completing 80 Abstergo challenges. These Rabbids appear to look as if they are scarecrows and standing on a stick.

In Just Dance 4 there is a playable song called Make the Party (Don't Stop) by Bunny Beatz in which a Rabbid is seen DJing around the area. A music video was made to accompany this.

In Watch Dogs, Raving Rabbid remote control robot toys can be found in homes or shops which can be hacked to bwaaaaa.